Boozy triple chocolate trifles take the stress out of Valentine’s Day dessert

Are you looking for a romantic dessert for two to make as a special Valentine’s Day treat? These trifles might be just what you are looking for. They are decadent with luscious layers of dark chocolate, they look magazine worthy, and they taste like you’ve died and gone to chocolate heaven. They include layers of creamy and slightly boozy whipped cream, dark chocolate (again, slightly boozy!) mousse and a dark, crumbly cookie layer for a bit of crunchy texture.

Although I love to cook, I tend to try to keep things simple. Because of my busy lifestyle, I’ve become the master of the 10-minute meal, throwing something together with whatever I happen to have on hand on any given night. But there are occasions in life and special holidays that call for a little forethought in the kitchen, and Valentine’s Day happens to be one of them.

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In our household, we have always celebrated Valentine’s Day as a family, including the kids and setting up a beautiful table with my English Country Roses china, candles, flowers and everything you might include in a romantic dinner for two. After all, Valentine’s Day is all about love, and I wanted my kids to feel doted on and loved too, so including them in this special dinner was an important tradition.

These days the kids are grown and on their own, so this lovers’ holiday has once again become dinner for two.

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To develop this recipe, I enlisted the help of my friend Chef Cindy from love.cook.nourish, who has a knack for great flavor and texture combinations and comes up with the most amazing cupcake ideas. Check out some of her interesting combinations, and see if you don’t agree.

Image: Mariko Giverink/SheKnows

When I explained what I was looking for in this dessert, she politely corrected my seeming misuse of the word “trifle” and said what I would be making was closer to a parfait. You really do learn something new every day. She patiently explained that a trifle is a layered dessert traditionally using cake as a base. Whipped cream and fruit typically make up the other layers. And these are served in a large dish that you spoon individual servings out of.

Image: Mariko Giverink/SheKnows

A parfait, however, is more typically served in individual dishes and can have layers of cream, fruit, ice cream or custard. Or a breakfast parfait can be made by adding granola and yogurt. So technically speaking, this dessert doesn’t perfectly fit into this category either.

And then there are fools. Not the fools we all deal with occasionally, but another dessert using layers or swirls of fruit and custard or whipped cream. But we can get back to talking about fools in April…

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After doing a bit of research, I also discovered that there’s so much overlap in the world of trifles, parfaits and fools that liberties are sometimes taken in the naming of a dessert. Technically speaking, this would be called a mini or single-serving trifle, but boozy triple chocolate single-serving trifles for two was too much of a mouthful, so I’ve taken those liberties and shortened it to triple chocolate trifles for two. And they’re ready in just 30 minutes.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Image: Mariko Giverink/SheKnows

Boozy triple chocolate trifles recipe

You will likely have extra whipped cream, which is purposeful, since I love using it to top coffee, hot chocolate or fruit.

Yields 2 large servings (shown) or 4 small servings

Total time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup Baileys Irish Cream, divided

1/2 small box Hershey’s Special Dark chocolate instant pudding mix

1/3 cup milk

10 Oreo cookies, filling removed

Directions:

With an electric mixer on low, mix together the pudding mix and milk. Set aside to thicken while you crush the cookies and whip up the spiked whipped cream.

To make the crushed cookie layer, twist open the Oreo cookies, scrape off the cream layer with a knife, and discard. Place in a Ziploc sandwich bag, and crush with a mallet or your fists. Set aside.

To make the spiked whipped cream, whip the cream and 1/4 cup of booze with an electric mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form. Set aside.

Now finish the dark chocolate mousse layer. With an electric mixer on low, mix the pudding and milk mixture with the remaining 1/4 cup of booze, then fold in 1 cup of the spiked whipped cream. Save the rest for the whipped cream layer.

To assemble the trifles, use 2 mini parfait glasses, drinking glasses, wineglasses or Mason jars. Spoon a layer of crumbled cookie in the bottom of the dishes. Add a layer of dark chocolate mousse and then a layer of spiked whipped cream. Repeat the 3 layers, and top with crumbled cookie. Add a garnish of edible flower petal.

Since this is such a rich and decadent dessert, you can turn it into a dessert for 4 by using short Mason jars or skinny Champagne glasses.